A BABY GIRL????

What, can you believe it, I know I sure can't. Mark did win the coin toss but when we were there at the ultrasound I wanted to know so bad that he was kind, and generous enough to let us find out. I am so glad we found out because I thought for sure like 99.9% we were having a boy. Not even because of the test we took, I was just feeling very strongly that it was a boy and had lots of signs saying it was a boy, but I guess we are not beating the Dudley odd's and adding to the 11 to 3 ratio of girls to boys making it 12 to 3. I am so happy I can start preparing now and start getting the nursery ready. I can't wait to see her beautiful face and see what a combination of a hunsperger and a dudley make.

A Day At The Lake

Today was the most perfect weather to go to the lake. Sunny, no wind, and lots of family. Sadly Mark had to work but me and the puppies had a blast. Although it did wear me out for the night being in the sun all day. Must give a shout out to the Hollands for making this a yearly tradition with our family. We always have so much fun. I was also a little disappointed I could not go on the ski's. I got up last year and was hoping to try it again this year, but baby is way more important then water skiing. Hopefully next year I can give it another try.

MOM'S 60TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

This weekend we had my mom's 60th birthday bash. We had it at my Aunt Tina's house and it was amazing. I can't even begin to describe how much I love this women and I am so blessed to have her as my mother. My mom grew up in Vermilion and this weekend was the vermilion fair so with lots of old friends being around town and a ton of my extended family being up we thought it would be a good time to celebrate her 60th birthday. It is technically not until August 22nd, but a little early doesn't hurt. Mark and I brought our bounce house out which kept the kids entertained all day. We had so many salads I don't think we knew what to do with them all. Lot's and lots of leftovers. We had a framed photo of my mother for people to sign there name and some great decorations. I was so impressed with the turn out and so grateful so many people came to celebrate her birthday. It was a blast and I think my mother was thrilled and overjoyed.

COIN TOSS!!!

We'll it looks like we are not finding out. We have been contemplating, fighting, disagreeing and could not come up with a decision where we were both happy so it came down to the toss of a coin best two out of three. Heads we don't find out the sex of the baby on Wednesday and tails we do. I guess fate was in Mark's favor last night because we turned up heads two times in a row, I never even got to see tails once on the coin. I am a little disappointed but I guess waiting another 4 1/2 months isn't the end of the world.

HEARTBEAT!!!

Yesterday I had one of my monthly checkup's with my doctor and it was so comforting hearing my baby's heartbeat. About two weeks ago I had a really bad fall and I twisted my ankle and bruised my knee pretty badly, I have been a little nervous ever since and worried about our baby, but the Doctor said everything looks great, and the heartbeat was fast and strong. 150 BPM's. I also got my results back from all of my blood work and everything looks really good when it comes to things like down syndrom, spina bifida, tri 13 and other birth defects. Again that was so comforting to hear the doctor say, it does not mean we are totally free from being worried about our baby, but definitely brings comfort.

Less then a week and we have our 20 week ultrasound. I am still so up in the air on weather or not I want to find out or not. I drive Mark crazy changing my mind everyday. Ever since yesterday I have been on a wanting to find out phase so if it stays this way for the appointment I have a feeling I might give in and find out. As of right now I don't really know what is going to happen that day. The thing I am most looking forward to though is seeing that beautiful baby of mine and hearing his or her heartbeat again.

Helamans Encampment

From July 4-9 the Church held Helaman's Encampment. It was to commemorate 100 years of Scouting in the Church in Canada. There was 2000 young men and 1000 leaders and adult volunteers. This was a type and shadow of the 2000 stripling warriors lead by Helaman during the wars with the Lamanites in the book of Alma. Our troop, consisting of Ian Isackson, Richard Bennett, Vince Holland, and myself as leaders and Howard Choi, Curtis Venance, his cousin Jared Mckay, Shaun and Seth Cousins, Jamie Repp, Micah Jensen, Tyler Holland, Jayman Bendixen,and Lehi Bacanawa as the youth, that left with us, left Lloydminster sunday afternoon after church and a small pot luck lunch provided by the boys moms.
We rented a 15 passenger van which pulled Vince's candle trailer full of gear.

We drove to Calgary and stayed with parents of a member of our branch(the Swendsons) they were very kind and packed us all in their basement for the night. We got up and left there by 630 and ate breakfast at McDonald's and gassed up for the last leg of the journey.

We arrived way earlier than we should have but got in luckily and got our gear set up and camp site prepped for the long week ahead.

Alex Rugama and his brother Daniel arrived via their grandpa, and also Brad and his son TJ arrived on their own.

Each Stake was joined with another stake in sub camps like military organization, we were camp Nephi. There was camp Ammon, Alma, Teancum, Moroni, Helaman, and on and on.

At the end of each day at 8pm there was a mass fire side set up on a hill were all of the "troops" gathered and enjoyed much spiritual enlightenment and the vision of what 3000 warriors look like. It is no small crowd.
Even Helaman was there and he looked great. he challenged the boys and leaders to push ups and arm wrestles. He did very well all week however there were times he came up a loser.

Elder Melchen of the 70 was the guest speaker

A quick idea of how heck-tick our mornings were... 545am get food if it was there start cooking breakfast and making lunch for all 20 of us and be done eating and cleaning up by 745 so we all could get to our activities for the day. Clean up was a must as threr was a lot of bears in the area so all our cooking pots needed to be cleaned and all dish water taken to the gray water disposal and garbage taken out of camp. This made for a lot of yelling and motivating boys to move move move

Tuesday our group which was sub camp Nephi and the Kin of Zoram or Zoramites was scheduled to do the wilderness adventure, in which we hike for 4 km to learn how to build a tower and make arrows to cast at our enemies, and build rope bridges. Our group of venture Lloyd boys and one vermilion boy did very well in all the events except the arrow casting in which Howard Choi Cut his thumb and required a medic, Geeze Howard.
The fire side was a NFL'er offensive lineman Ed Mulitalo he played for the Baltimore Raven's and he did a wonderful job

Wednesday we were doing man tracker. We had a few GPS units and we were given a list of points that we had to find and not get caught by the men on horses, and we had a time limit and we had to make 3 points for sure. We got caught 2 times and avoided them 3 or 4 times after that.
This was kind of showing us the story of Alma in the wilderness leading the people out of bondage from the Lamanites.
No Injuries to report
The fire side was another great one, the guest speaker was Gifford Nielsen quarter back for the Houston Oilers from 78-82 and he also had a great talk.

Thursday was our hike up the Mountain. Our Venture company rode a bus to the back side of the Mt and started our hike just after 9am. The hikes elevation was very steep and fast. It took a lot of effort for us to make it up. The sights were breathtaking and the what a great accomplishment as many of these boys will never see those sights from any mountain ever again. It was no small feat as this hike lasted till 6pm. Some of the boys were very exhausted and so was I.
The weather was amazing the whole week and as we got back to camp the clouds came roaring in and it looked like we were going to be in for a good rain storm.
we ate our diner and got on all our rain gear and brought tarps up to the hill to listen to our fire side. We got there and assembled and the stake president in charge told us to go back to our sub camps and pray to have the weather break. We did so, and with in moments the clouds broke and we were all called back to the hill. The Lord did hear our cries and answered them.

That night the guest speaker was the former General Young Mens President Charles W. Dahlquist
THis night each young man received a letter from his mother, I received one from Kalinda and if the boys had a letter like the one I received they would have all been in tears.

Friday was our day on the waters. Our troop (symbolizing the family of Lehi had to find timber to build a ship and kindling to build a fire and coordinates to find the ore to put the ship together.
our troop was great. As this was the coldest day of our journey they braved the cold water and we lite our fire first. It was very windy and hard to paddle on the waves but as a team we moved the raft quite well.

the last fireside ended with the Current General Young Mens President David Beck
all the firesides were filled with inspiring messages.

Also each night our stake got together to talk and pass on house keeping items. At one meeting there was a fellow that would just not let off the complaining and murmuring about the rules and how strict they were. President Christensen asked him to wait and discuss later, but he would not. Finally Vince ask him,"how old are You?" the man threw down something on the ground and stood up and called Vince a punk, I tell you it was like the scriptures say the warm contentions that arose. The night ended and no one got injured.
Saturday we got out of dodge by 730 and landed in Calgary for peters drive in at 1130. and almost ran out of fuel by Wetaskawin but made it to a husky gas station in Leduc.

what an amazing week, I am glad I got to go and I am glad it is over.

HAPPY 7 YEARS!!

Today Mark and I celebrated our seven year anniversary, and we truly made a day of it. We started out by getting up at 6:00 in the morning to head off to Wainwright for a 5KM race we were signed up for. Mark totally rocked it and came in like 5th place and got a time of around 26 minutes. I totally sucked but that was because I had to walk for half of it, I was just happy that I did not come in last place I was fully preparing myself for that and I finished in about 36 minutes which really surprised me as I thought it would take me about 42 minutes, with walking half and running half of it to keep me and baby safe.






So after the race was finished we headed into Edmonton for an early dinner at Red Lobster and then an Edmonton Eskimos game with free season ticket seats from one of the company's Mark works with (KUDU). They were amazing 50 yard line 6th row up and seats 1,2,3 and 4. We had 4 tickets so we invited our Neighbours Jamie and Brett as Brett is a huge Eskies fan. The games was awesome and the Eskimos totally schooled the B.C. Lions. The evening then commenced with a trip to Marble Slab Creamier and some delicious ice cream for the drive home. Couldn't have asked for a better way for us to celebrate 7 years together.




There was free face painting at the Game so we decided to have our faces painted. Mark says Happy 7th and mine says anniversary.

NEW/OLD JOB

Today is my last day at Stupidstore, and yes that is suppose to say Stupid. I have never been more excited about leaving a job in my whole entire life. From day one of working there it has been a nightmare. It seemed like one frustration after another kept coming my way in my work life and personal life. Although last year was an incredible year for me I also went through a lot of physical and emotional challenges and superstore did not have an ounce of compassion for me. When I went in for my Laproscopic surgery and they decided to take my appendix out the Doctor told me to take a week to two weeks off work and the store manager said "why does she need so much time off she just had her appendix out". Then when I had my miscarriage it happened so quickly and I was rushed to the hospital and stayed there for the night and was not allowed to do anything for 72 hours because of all the blood I lost, and again no compassion did not call to see if I was okay did not ask me how I was doing when I got back from work and where even annoyed and complained about the fact that I needed to take 4 days off work because of it. Seriously is this a place anybody would want to work. Not to mention I swear every single person that works there does not know how to smile. It really is sad. So when The Eyewear Place called me and asked me if I wanted to come back and work for them and they were willing to pay out my schooling and licensing contract there was not even a moment of hesitation. I feel so incredibly blessed right now, The Lord just keeps answering our prayers and making things in life easier for us, I worry sometimes that he is preparing us for a big trial, but for now I am just going to be happy and grateful for everything he is doing for us, try to keep increasing my faith, and keep enjoying life cause I don't know if it could get much better then this.

THE BUCKET LIST TAKES A HIT!!!

Highest Mountain in the World (and Asia)
Everest, Nepal-China: 29,035 feet / 8850 meters

Highest Mountain in Africa
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: 19,340 feet / 5895 meters

Highest Mountain in Antarctica
Vinson Massif: 16,066 feet / 4897 meters

Highest Mountain in Australia
Kosciusko: 7310 feet / 2228 meters

Highest Mountain in Europe
Elbrus, Russia (Caucasus): 18,510 feet / 5642 meters

Highest Mountain in Western Europe
Mont Blanc, France-Italy: 15,771 feet / 4807 meters

Highest Mountain in Oceania
Puncak Jaya, New Guinea: 16,535 feet / 5040 meters

Highest Mountain in North America
McKinley (Denali), Alaska: 20,320 feet / 6194 meters

Highest Mountain in the 48 Contiguous United States
Whitney, California: 14,494 feet / 4418 meters

Highest Mountain in South America
Aconcagua, Argentina: 22,834 feet / 6960 meters

So I was doing some research today on some of the things I want to accomplish on my bucket list, when I came across this article on all of the tallest peeks on each continent. Mark and I came up with this idea last year and thought it would such an amazing accomplishment in life. Then I realized one thing that that list would have to include Mount Everest, which I would never climb, I would never have the time or money to be that experienced and personally don't feel it is worth risking my life to defeat this goal. So then I researched the 2nd highest peek in asia which is K2 and it is only 1000feet less then Everest and the 2nd highest fatality rate, so again not that appealing to me. So I have decided to cross climbing the tallest mountain on every continent of my bucket list and replace it with climbing the tallest mountain in the places I really want to visit in life like: Africa, Australia, Greece, Italy, Argentina, and many others. Sorry bucket list but it is just not worth losing my life over it.

VEMMA!!!

I have a friend on facebook that keep advertising about these Vemma products. They are a natural health drink that is packed with vitamins and minerals. It is like taking a daily multivitamin, but better as vitamins and minerals absorb much better through food and drink then a pill. So our family is going to give it a try and see if we notice a difference, it is kind of expensive but hopefully worth it. They also have a product for children that is meant for there little tiny bodies. It is safe to have when pregnant and breastfeeding and children can drink just the regular vemma product you just need to give them less dosage and water it down a bit. I ordered some yesterday and can't wait to overload my body with this superdrink for me and my growing baby.

READERS WARNING!!!

So just wanted to say a thank you to everyone who read's my blog. It makes me feel special and important and that people really do love me. This past January I did a blog book from all of my blog posts and I love it. I am going to do one every year for our family, It will act as a journal/scrapbook. I have decided that scrapbooking in the end is really not my thing I might do it hear and there but not enough to have all of our family memories up to date. So with that, I am going to start blogging more a lot more about our life, the things we are doing our accomplishments and sometimes our failures. So I just wanted to give everybody a heads up that I am going to start to be one of those annoying blogers that will blog about everything and anything, sometimes pics but not always and probably more details to the events we do. So feel free to read but I don't blame anyone that stops reading.

Kalinda

WILL MAKE YOU CRY!!!

Mark showed me this beautiful message tonight that he saw at his scout camp this week. Be prepared to cry and be inspired.

BUYING BABY STUFF!!!

Well I finally bought my first baby outfit and my first baby item. I put off buying anything for a while because for some reason I thought it would jinks it but as I am almost half way done (oh my goodness can you believe it, it is going by so fast) I am starting to feel the urge and also starting to feel like it is time to get ready. My goal is to by one item per pay check until everything is bought. I figured it out and I have 10 more paychecks to go. Seriously this is going by way to fast.

First baby outfit (Terra I thought of you, Tevin and Ryan when I got this outfit)



well it is not the $160 nine west diaper bag I wanted, and it is not the $20 superstore bag I almost bought, because it was cheap. It is a little between both price wise and I feel exactly my style. Plus I think Mark will feel okay with it strapped around his arm if it needs to be. He was very strict in telling me I could not have a pink fruffy diaper bag if I ever wanted help carrying it.

THUNDERSTORM!!

This post is for memory sake;

I was woken up last night at three in the morning by the craziest thunderstorm I have ever been in. For a whole 2 hours the thunder just kept coming and it was crazy loud. The lightning was the kind of lightning that literally lite up the whole entire house. Every two seconds the house was glowing. I love love love thunderstorms I think there is something magical about them. However I have to admit it was a little bit creepy at 3 in the morning when I was all alone as Mark is away at the huge Scout Camp this week. I finally got up at 3:30 and just sat on the couch with the puppies and watched the sky light up. Now for memory sake the cutest thing ever last night was the puppies, when the thunder started going both Molly and Lily cuddled right into me, then when I got up to go to the bathroom and sit on the couch they would not leave my side, Lily hid behind my legs as I was on the toilet. It was so precious to see how dependent they were on me to protect them from this crazy storm. It made me think of my baby and how one day Mark and I will be doing the same thing with them. Letting them come and snuggle in bed with us to keep them safe from monsters, and thunderstorms, and bad guys. I know this might sound crazy but I can't wait for one of those days to happen, just as long as it doesn't happen all the time.

OH CANADA!!!!

What a blast our family had last night. we had the Hollands, the Passey's and the Booth's over for some BBQing, Bounce House jumping and a stirring game of Quelph. Many laughs were had and I think this is going to start to be a yearly tradition with this wonderful family of mine.



The Canada day cookie




you can't see it but Molly has frosting on her face from the cookie, oh Molly what poor innocent child did you steal that from.




Julie's beautiful baby Taylor, she was so good and such a doll.



The soon to be beautiful baby, and this picture does not do my belly justice, it is getting huge.




the Kids had an absolute blast in the bounce house, thanks Mark and Vince for setting it up so the adults could play a game of their own.

THE WONDERFUL GAME OF QUELPH.




Joci saving penalty points by wrapping her head in aluminum foil



Julie designing and making a snorkel mask that she had to wear the whole entire game. Bravo Julie Bravo.


Christal covering her upper lip while dancing around the kitchen like a figure skater.


Mark and Vince racing to see who could come up with the most amount of words spelled with the letter Q in 30 seconds, I think Mark won by one point.